Study on Inventory Control in Water Resource Supply Chain Management

Eastern route of south-to-north water transfer project is selected as a study case. Vendor management inventory (VMI) control theory is introduced into the study on water inventory control of the node lake of the project. When the possibility of the flood is taken into account, water inventory control models and water utilization profit models under independent control strategy, centralized control strategy and VMI control strategy are set up. Then VMI and independent control strategies of water resource are compared and restriction conditions of VMI control strategy are deduced. Finally, profit change curves of water buyers and water sellers under different inventory control strategies are obtained in simulation testing. The result shows that VMI control strategy can increase water utilization efficiency and improve the whole profits of water supply chain system. The study can provide guidance for the operations of south-to-north water transfer project and other inter-basin water transfer projects.